Chad Ford: Boston Celtics Showing 'Strong Signals' To Land Kevin Love

The NBA draft is only one week from this Thursday, and a lot of movement to trade places or players may take action within the next week.

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and staff have been quite occupied in these previous weeks doing their due dilligence on the draft prospects, as well as another player of their intrigue. Boston, who has been rumored to be a suitor for Kevin Love, may have the strongest chance and best package to offer the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to ESPN NBA Insider Chad Ford's latest mock draft.

But I continue to get strong signals that the Celtics are trying hard to use pick No. 6 and 17 along with No. 1s and young players such as Jared Sullinger or Kelly Olynyk to persuade the Minnesota Timberwolves to trade them Kevin Love.

One source close to the Wolves said that while Flip Saunders does not want to trade Love, he realizes the team likely will lose him this summer and the package the Celtics are offering is probably the best he's going to get. Given the strength of the draft, picks 6, 13 and 17 could land them three young starters to help them rebuild their roster quickly.

Love is a free agent in the summer of 2015, so the likelihood of the Timberwolves trading their All-Star power forward is becoming real. There is uncertainty of who Minnesota wants between Jared Sullinger or Kelly Olynyk, but that should not matter if Boston can land a phenom in Love.

One week from Thursday will be immensely rumor-filled, and Ford's hint could give Boston the upper hand and get lucky on Love.

Mark Loiselle Jr. is a Celtics beat writer for CLNS Radio. He currently has a radio show called "The Sports Blast" on ESPN Radio in Nashua, New Hampshire, and writes for The Phinsider. In the past, his work has been published on NESN.com, Phinphanatic.com and Atlantic Twine.

Mark is a Warwick, Rhode Island native who recently graduated from Springfield College with a degree in communications/sports journalism. You can follow Mark on Twitter @mahkeyL34